Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1887-09-01
BITS OF SCIENCE.

A NEW theory of the final destruction
of the earth is that the polar ice is
penetrating the interior of the globe
like wedge, and that as soon as it
reaches the furnace there will be an ex-
plosion that will split the world into
pieces too small for truck-patches.
IT is often desirable to make excava-
tions for pipes in very cold weather,
when the earth is frozen. Quicklime
has been tried for thawing the surface
with success. The ground to be dug is
covered with alternate layers of lime
and snow: The Stacking lime heats the
soil so effectually that after ten or fif-
teen hours it may be removed with
ease.
BROWNING" oranges grown in the
West Indies and Mexico, so that they
shall pass muster as real Florida fruit,
is the device of an enterprising Yankee.
The process consists of putting the
fruit into large sieve and passing it
over hot fire until the oranges con-
tanned therein are sufficiently scorched,
technically Drowned" to give them the
true Florida tinge which is peculiar to
that delicious orange. The Drowned"
fruit is mostly shipped north and west,
NJ. LIGNER, an Austrian meteorolo-
gist, claims to have ascertained, after
careful investigation, that the moon
has nm influence on magnetized needle,
varying with its phases and declina-
tions. The phenomenon is said to be
more prominently noticeable when the
moon is near the earth, and to be very
marked when she is passing from the
full to her first or second quarter. The
disturbances are found to be ut their
maximum when the moon is in the
plane of the equator, and greater dur
ing the southern than it is during the
northern declination.
GALToN has pointed out some very
curious facts concerning the children
of professional men. He found, from
study of the heredity Of the members
Of some of the largest scientific socie-
ties of London, that the legal profess
sion presented the most eminent men
and the fewest idiots. The medical
profession came next, and lastly clergy
men, who produced the smallest num-
Der of eminent men and the largest
number of idiots and feeble. minded.
The lawyers gave origin to six times as
many eminent men rs the clergy. The
clergy gave origin to six times as many
idiots and feeble-miuded as the law
yers.
PROF. TRowBRTDGE's plan Of sub
marine telephony in which speech was
to be transmitted between vessels ut
sea without the aid of any connecting
wire has been abandoned as impractic-
able, as the system upon which Mr..
Edison has been experimenting in
Florida is more promising of good re-
suits. In this system the telephone
signals, by long and short explosive
sounds instead of by spoken words and
communications, have been successfully
exchanged through the water between
vessels from three to four miles apart,
with the prospect that the working
limit may be increased with improve
ment in the apparatus.
CRABS, which are supposed to shed
their shells every year, do not often
shed them after they have attained their
full size, and the creatures become
victims to barnacles and all sorts of
marine growths that fasten themselves
upon the shell. remarkable example
OF this may be seen in the British
museum. where has been placed an old
crab CT the edible species, with some
half-dozen oysters of large size fixed to
its back. which load, ever increasing.
the old crab was doomed to carry to
the end of its days. Another curious
specimen preserved is that of a hairy
crab, which, though not larger itself
than walnut, is saddled with sponge
as large as mans fist. A